Growing up too Fast
by LaFernweh
Summary: Links voice is too deep and he doesn't like it. Doesn't want it. He weeps openly into the well knowing all to well that he doesn't know what hes doing and he doesn't know how to be an adult or how everything got so bad. He's just a kid.. How could he?


Its past dark when Link finally reaches Kakariko Village.

His overworked muscles are sore due to fighting and countless miles of heavy travel. The area is pitch black except for the faintest sliver of moon and the glow coming from the ghastly ring of fire that now circles above Death Mountain. The sight is a grave reminder to the hero that nothing is right in this world he woke up in.

As the young hero comes up to the village entrance he notices there is no guard stationed and the sign has seen better days. The deep elongated gouges in the wood fill him with worry while the red tint on the other column makes his stomach drop in a way he'd never felt before a little over a year ago. Or eight and a half years ago now. He keeps forgetting...

Link gently places his fingertips against the wood, running them down its bumpy surface slowly as he inspects it. The faint spattering of red slowly condenses and joins into a larger stain that is at the height of Links throat. Right in the middle of it all is a deep indent. He places the tip of his finger in the hole to investigate. The mark must have been made by something thin and definitely sharp.

Link jerks his hand back at the realization.

Someone must have been impaled here.

He jerkily stumbles back a few steps and falls to the ground onto his backside. He quickly wipes his hands against the wet grass in panic, even though there is nothing on them.

The sudden movements wake Navi who had been resting in between the hero's neck and collar. She quickly removes herself from the spot then stops suddenly in mid air when she notices that there is no danger to be seen. When she turns she sees Link on the ground looking completely alarmed as he wipes his grass covered hand on his leggings.

"Link, what happened?"

The heroes head snaps up, eyes wide, as if he had been caught in the act. He quickly shakes his head "N-Nothing!" he stutters out. The pitch of his voice leads the fairy to believe otherwise.

She flies closer to inspect her young charge "Then why are you on the ground?"

The silence and lack of eye contact that follows is a bit concerning. The way the hero bites his bottom lip while nervously shrugging his shoulders reminds her that he is still just a boy. Seconds later Link points at the wooden column, refusing to look anywhere near it.

Navi turns then looks upward at the sign "Oh, we made it!" she exclaims, flying around it twice before returning to her previous spot in front of Link. The hero nods his head shakily only half grateful at the subject change because someone used to be there.

A person. A real live person used to be there. But none of that actually used to be there.

This wouldn't have happened before.

What if that had been from the guard?

"Link?"

He snaps his head in the fairys direction. She flies a little closer "... Are you coming?"

Her hesitation tells him that she probably knows something is wrong or at least a little off. He's glad she doesn't continue to fret over it because he just doesn't know what to say or what he can say and he'd spoken to that man and just-

Link takes a sudden breath before standing and brushing himself off. He cringes slightly when he feels the wetness on his backside.

The two make their way into the village, Link doing his best not to look back.

As most other places the pair had revisited everything was at least just a little bit different. The village had grown since their last departure only a few weeks ago.

Or years. It had been years.

Link had to remember that.

The houses all had a worn look to them, now more than before. All windows had been blocked shut from the looks of things there were places on doors that looked as if something had tried to break or claw its way in.

Not a soul could be seen. Link silently hoped that it was because of the time and not something else…

There was no laughter to be heard as he walked by windows and doors that once held so much life and warmth. Now everything looked as if the villagers were just doing their best to survive.

The house the men had been working on the last time Link had made his way through had been completed. The amount of visible locks and bars on things worried him.

There was no guard at the rusted gate that lead to Death Mountain. The gate had been neglected since he had seen it last and it looked as if something and forced its way through. The lack of guard made the cold feeling in his chest travel down to his stomach. He bit his bottom lip again and looked away as soon as he saw the slightest hint of crimson color.

Rust, he told himself. Rust.

Link let out a shaky breath.

The pair walked past what used to be Anju's fenced in chicken yard and proceeded into the graveyard.

"Maybe the grave keeper will let you stay with him for the night?" Navi inquired into the darkness. The silence swallows her words. The ever growing mass of pressure in Links throat keeps him from saying anything. He fears that if he spoke now his voice would rattle and shake in a way that would reveal everything Link was so desperately trying to hold in.

A slight drizzle started halfway up the hill. A foreboding feeling grew in Links chest as they made it to the entrance. The graveyard had always been a bit creepy but now Link felt as if the air was alive and thick with sadness. It left him with a sinking feeling that set down deep into his bones as if the spirits held in the graves were warning him that he would not like what was up ahead.

The graveyard had grown and filled up so terribly. Marked and unmarked graves were back to back, utilizing every bit of space. The grass was unkept and weeds grew along the pathways.

But Goddesses it was so full.

So many people had died.

He couldn't be here.

The hero quickly turned and ran. His fairy asked no questions and followed close behind.

Link finally slows when he reaches the stairs leading to the well. They're chipped and crumbling but he can't see any of the cracks through the building tears that have yet to fall.

His heart is beating so intensely inside his chest, the pressure in his throat makes it hard to breathe.

The heros top row of teeth threaten to breath through his bottom lip as his pulse races making his head thump and his knees shake so hard he almost doesn't make it up the steps.

Navi isn't sure what to say or do to calm the young hero because goodness what could she say?

Link reaches the well, stopping as he gets to its edge.

The shaking in his shoulders intensifies to sudden jerks as he curls in on himself.

Empty.

Its empty.

Links chin wobbles as the tears he had been holding in for so long finally fall making wet tracks down his flushed cheeks. He lets out a small whine that sounds so much younger than he physically is and lets out a barely contained sob.

"W-what are they supp-supposed to drink?" he asks miserably

Navi desperately tries to find an answer her young charge would like to hear but there is none.

"I.. I don't know, Link"

Link hiccups, his head falling so that his fringe covers his tearful cheeks "But.. th-thats not.." a deep breath "Thats not fair!"

Its not. Its really not. None of this is fair.

The hero goes forward, leaning against the well and supporting his upper half with his elbows. His legs shake and slowly give out beneath him so that all of his weight rests on the rim. He can't stop himself from crying anymore because everything is just so dumb and stupid and its not supposed to be like this.

He's not supposed to be like this. Nothing is.

He weeps openly into the well. His shoulders are wracked with sobs, his eyes burn and his heart hurts so, so bad.

Navi lands next to him as his sobs grow in volume. They echo through the deep cavern and it sounds as if a lost child is crying out for help. The comparison is so right it hurts.

Links voice is too deep and he doesn't like it.

Doesn't want it.

He doesn't want any of it.

He's cold, wet, and sad. He just wants to go home to sleep in his bed so he can wake up tomorrow and play with Saria in the woods. But he can't. He doesn't live there anymore, he doesn't live anywhere. He's too big and none of his friends know him. They look at him as if they do then ask for his name. They tell him he doesn't belong there and they're right. Mido was always right. He's not one of them. He never was and Sarias not there to make him feel better. He can't ask The Great Deku Tree for guidance because he's dead. Now theres a little shrub there that tells Link so much bad news and he hates it.

He doesn't understand why it has to be this way or why girls are giving him those looks as if they want to eat him. It makes him so uncomfortable he doesn't know how to handle it.

He doesn't' know how to handle anything anymore or speak like an adult would. He still wants to play with the other kids but it's only okay sometimes but he doesn't know why or what bad thing they think hes going to do.

He doesn't even know what he's going to do.

Link scrubs at his face forgetting about the gauntlet that covers his wrist and hand. It scrapes at his face so uncomfortably and scratches his already rubbed raw cheeks.

It upsets him more because it shouldn't be like all the new graves crumbling away in the cemetery, the rubble where the market place used to be, and the blood on the wooden column where the guard used to stand so dutifully until everything went wrong.

Everything was wrong.

Navi comes closer, nuzzling herself against the heroes cheek, doing her best to comfort him. Link hiccups a few times before pulling her in to hold against his chest. He slides down the wall and holds her as close as he can without hurting her small delicate wings. The warmth of her glow is what calms his bawling down to quiet weeping. He still sniffles and hiccups from time to time but the worst of it has passed.

The two stay like that until dawn when Link stands with red rimmed eyes and a look of pure resolution on his tired face.

He looks upwards toward the ring of fire that circled the mountain knowing where he must go.

But first he needs to catch up with the villagers. See who had made it and who was now laying deep in the ground up in the cemetery.

Everything had fallen apart during his absence. The world had turned into something he barely even recognized.

And it was his job to fix it.

He would fix all of it.

I have wanted to write this for YEARS.  
And Rue's art finally inspired me to do it! post/92236154588/i-think-folks-sometimes-forget-that-adult-link Rue if youre reading this thank you :) I feel like Link would be really overwhelmed with the world he stepped into and also with himself. He's basically in a new place with a new body in which he has to act in a way that he has never been taught to. He grew up with children so he probably wouldn't understand alot of adult things or why other things may be taboo. I think he would struggle with all of it throughout his adventure, especially at the beginning of the adult phase. 


End file.
